Fabric floor surface and floor covering



Aug. 12, 1969 I G. BLOCH 3,461,024 memo moon summon AND moon covznme 1 'Filed QOt. 22, 1965 kn. "x t .:-i-

Bl/v05"? /9- a: "I.--,. w comers-n6 I 996%: FLOOR 20 0/VC'E/MPEO Z r CRI/YPED mvEN'roR ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,461,024 FABRIC FLOOR SURFACE AND FLOOR COVERING Godfrey Bloch, 38 E. 75th St, New York, N.Y. 10021 Filed Oct. 22, 1965, Ser. No. 501,496 Int. Cl. D04h 11/00; E04b 5/43; B32b 13/14 US. Cl. 161-66 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hard fabric floor covering comprising a loop pile fabric adhered to a hard surface floor. The pile yarns are composed of a plurality of plies each of which is hard twisted in singles form. The singles ends are plied together with a stabilizing ply twist.

This invention relates to floor surfacing or floor covering and has for an object to provide a woven fabric floor surface having a wear life comparable to that of a hard surface floor.

Another object is to provide a woven fabric floor covering which can be permanently adhered to a hard undersurface such as concrete and is capable of withstanding hard usage such as that normally encountered in a factory or loft.

Another object is to provide a loop pile fioor covering having the above characteristics.

Various other objects and advantages will be apparent as the nature of the invention is more fully disclosed.

In accordance with the invention, a hard twisted and plied continuous filament synthetic fiber having anti-static characteristics and high abrasion resistance is used as pile warp in forming an uncut loop pile fabric. Polypropylene fibers which are solution dyed, that is in which the dye is added to the spinning solution so that the filaments are dyed uniformly throughout their entire cross section, are specially suitable for the above purpose. Such filaments in addition to having antistatic characteristics are highly wear resistant and maintain their color until completely worn through. Solution dyed nylon filaments which have anti-static characteristics also have high wear resistance and may be used in certain instances.

A plurality of ends composed of filaments of the above type, some or all of which are artificially crimped, are

plied to form a carpet size yarn that is a yarn having a total denier of at least 3600. Each of the ends is given a hard twist prior to plying and the plied yarn is given a reverse twist suitable to stabilize the yarn. The singles twist is of an order such that handling and weaving would be difficult due to the tendency to kink if used in singles form. The plying and reverse twisting removes this tendency to kink and permits the yarn to be handled and woven in the usual manner. However, a hard surface is provided due to the high twist and each filament is exposed at the surface for short lengths only as the twist brings dilferent portions of the filaments to the surface.

The above described yarns may be used as pile warp and woven as loop pile over stationary wires using doup heddles with a leno motion or the loops may be formed by tufting or another standard manner. The following are specific examples of fabrics embodying the invention.

Example 1 Uncrimped solution dyed polypropylene ends of 3200 denier are twisted 8 turns Z. Crimped solution dyed polypropylene ends of 3750 denier are likewise twisted 8 turns Z. One of the uncrimped ends and three crimped ends are 3,461,024 Patented Aug. 12, 1969 'ice plied S, 5 turns per inch. The resulting four-ply yarn is woven over 4 inch stationary gauge wires by means of a leno, 6 warp pile yarns per inch and 10 /2 picks per inch with 12 pound plasticized jute filling. The loops may be staggered or may be aligned in the weftwise direction. Between each 2 warp yarns are two 8/ 4 cotton ends woven as ground warps.

Example 2 Two ends of crimped solution dyed polypropylene filaments of 1800 denier each are given a singles twist of 10 turns per inch and plied to form a two-ply yarn with a ply twist of 6 turns in the opposite direction. Two such yarns, one with a standard twist and the other with a reverse twist, are woven in pairs two woven as one, over 4 inch stationary gauge wires with a leno motion making 6 pairs of loops per inch and 11 picks per inch with 12 pound plasticized jute filling. The pairs of loops are spaced by two 8/4 cotton ends woven as ground warps.

Example 3 Five ends of crimped solution dyed polypropylene filaments of 2650 denier each are plied with one end of uncrimped solution dyed polypropylene filaments of 2000 denier. The ends have a singles twist of 10 turns Z and the yarn has a ply twist of 7 turns S. This yarn is tufted five rows per inch to form As inch pile loops, six loops per inch lengthwise.

Example 4 One uncrimped end of solution dyed nylon filaments of 2000 denier and one crimped end of solution dyed nylon filaments of 2650 denier are given a singles twist of five turns and plied together with a ply twist of six turns, in a reverse direction. Two such yarns are tufted as one, four pairs per inch, one of the yarns having a regular twist and the other having a reverse twist to form pile loops having inch pile height.

Example 5 Four-hundred denier uncrimped solution dyed polypropylene filaments blended with 2680 denier crimped solution dyed polypropylene filaments to form a single end are given a twist of 10 turns per inch. Two such ends are plied with a ply twist of six turns per inch, in the reverse direction, and woven or tufted to form loop pile as set forth in any of the above examples.

In any of the above examples, the back of the fabric is latexed to bind the tufts firmly in place. The latexed fabric is then adhered to an underfloor, such as concrete, wood or metal, to form a permanent floor surface. It may, however, also be used as a floor covering in the usua' manner, when desired.

The amount of twist will depend upon the size of the yarn and the nature of the filaments. The twist in the singles will vary inversely with the denier and in general will be less for nylon than for polypropylene, due to the fact that the nylon filaments are usually stiffer than the polypropylene filaments.

A hard twist in accordance with the present inventior may be defined as a twist such that when the ends of a short length of yarn, in unset state, are brought together the yarn loop which is formed will twist substantially upon itself. The following are examples of a hard twist: 10 to 35 turns in 800 to 900 denier, 5 to 9 turns in 250C denier and 4 to 8 turns in 3750 denier. The ends may have a singles twist varying from a hard twist, as set forth above, to the maximum which is manageable in the yarn. The ply twist is of a sufficient number of turns to stabilize the yarn when the yarn is unset or to stabilize the yarn after being set. A single end as set forth herein refers to filaments either untwisted or having a producers twist derived either from a singles spinnerette or combined from a plurality of spinnerettes in the form usually marketed by yarn producers as a single end.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIG. 1 is a section through a floor illustrating a loop pile fabric embodying the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a detail view on a larger scale illustrating a yarn embodying the present invention.

Referring to the drawing more in detail, FIG. 1 shows a pile fabric 16 composed of pile loops 17 separated by ground warps 18 and adhered by an adhesive 19 to a hard underfloor 20. The pile loops are composed of yarns of the type above described.

FIG. 2 illustrates a yarn 21 composed of three ends 22 of crimped filaments which have been given a hard singles twist and plied with one end 23 of the same filament but in uncrimped form and given hard singles twist. The ends 22 and 23 are plied with a ply twist, the reverse of the singles twist, as above set forth.

What is claimed is:

1. A floor comprising a hard under-surface and a fabric adhered thereto, said fabric having loop pile yarns comprising continuous filament synthetic plied carpet size yarn having a total denier of at least 3600, said yarn being composed of a plurality of plies, each ply having a denier of 800 to 3750 and having a singles twist of the order of 4 turns to 35 turns per inch the number of turns varying inversely with the denier and being at least sufiicient to provide a hard twist as defined herein, at least some of said plies being crimped, said yarn having a ply twist suited to stabilize the yarn.

2. A floor as set forth in claim 1 in which at least one of said plies is uncrimped.

3. A floor as set forth in claim 1 in which said filaments are composed of nylon.

4. A floor as set forth in claim 1 in which said filaments are composed of polypropylene.

5. A floor as set forth in claim 1 in which the filaments are solution dyed.

6. A floor as set forth in claim 1 in which said yarn is composed of at least two plys of at least 1800 denier each, each ply having a singles twist of at least 4 turns per inch.

7. A loop pile fabric for a hard surface floor covering, said fabric having loop pile yarns comprising continuous filament synthetic plied carpet size yarn having a total denier of at least 3600, said yarn being composed of a plurality of plies, each ply having a denier of 800 to 3750 and having a singles twist of the order of 4 turns to 35 turns per inch the number of turns varying inversely with the denier and being at least sufficient to provide a hard twist as defined herein, at least some of said plies being crimped, said yarn having a ply twist suited to stabilize the yarn.

8. A fabric as set forth in claim 7 in which at least one of said plies is uncrimped.

9. A fabric as set forth in claim 7 in which said fila ments are composed of nylon or polypropylene.

10. A fabric as set forth in claim 7 in which the filaments are solution dyed.

11. A fabric as set forth in claim 7 in which said plies have a denier of at least 1800.

12. A fabric as set forth in claim 7 in which the singles twist is at least 4 turns per inch.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,134,022 10/1938 Bell.

3,001,264 9/1961 Bloch 16165 3,033,240 5/1962. Bottorf 161-65 XR 3,255,580 6/1966 Garner et al.

3,315,328 4/ 1967 Ibrahim.

ROBERT F. BURNETT, Primary Examiner R. H. CRISS, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

